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At an April 15 meeting with Ms Rahiri and her support person, attended by Ms Williams and the board's human relations manager Nick Cockcroft, she was provided with a copy of the complaint report.

She was relieved to see it was marked "minor" and noted there was only one complaint from a colleague, not a patient.

Ms Williams said she told Ms Rahiri it was a minor issue, and she was unlikely to lose her job.

Ms Rahiri had denied all aspects of the complaint, resulting in the need for a formal investigation, Ms Williams said.

In a letter dated the same day, Ms Williams stated: "You are advised that the allegation is serious and that a potential outcome is disciplinary action up to and including dismissal."

Ms Williams said at a further meeting on April 24, 2015 Ms Rahiri stated she wished to resign.

Ms Rahiri said she considered Ms Williams was not interested in hearing her explanation and she had undermined her trust and confidence in the employment relationship.The meeting ended with no formal resolution.

Ms Rahiri resigned on May 6, 2015 by letter complaining about Ms Williams treatment.Ms Williams accepted the resignation but gave Ms Rahiri the chance to withdraw it.

The parties subsequently attended mediation, but this was not successful in resolving the problem, and on September 21 Ms Rahiri filed a statement of complaint with the authority.

Authority member Eleanor Robinson said she found the health board had not acted in the requisite good faith towards Ms Rahiri, and she was unjustifiably constructively dismissed.

Ms Robinson said she also accepted Ms Rahiri suffered "humiliation, loss of dignity and injury to feelings" and severe financial difficulties throughout the period in question.